Cabinet construction



Nov. 11, 1958 x. c. COURSON CABINET CONSTRUCTION Filed May 12, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN VEN TOR. /iffl C (OJ/FIG Nov. 11,1958 I. c. COURSON CABINET CONSTRUCTION 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 12, 1953 IN V EN TOR.

/5[/? a cawPm/v BY Iii/V74 United States, Patent CABINET "CONSTRUCTION Iber C. Courson, Glenside, "Pa., assignor to Philco Corporation, Philadelphia, 'Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application May 12, 1953, SerialNo. 354,515 3 Claims. (Cl.-109-63.5)

The invention hereinafter described and claimed .has to do with cabinet construction, and more particularly with normally sealed cabinets provided with a door and including means for latching the door in'closedvpositiom While of broader applicability, the apparatus of the invention is especially useful in the field of refrigerator cabinetry and is therefore shown and described in this environment.

Not infrequently there occurs a tragic suffocation of a child who has climbed into a refrigerator cabinet, most commonly after abandonment of the same, .and has closed the door. In such cabinets the gasket seal around the doordoes not permit sufficient flow of air into and out of the cabinet to sustain life for'more -than iashort time.

It .is of course widely recognized that every .prac

ticable means should be employed to eliminate a'hazard' of this kind, and a number of different approaches have been made to the problem. However 'no really satisfactory solution has heretofore been found, since kit isnecessary not only to meet the safety requirement, :but also to design reasonably priced equipment which (can be manufactured and merchandised on a competitive, mass-production basis.

With the foregoing in mind it :is the primary object of my invention to minimize the aforesaid hazard by providing cabinet construction of such a nature as vir tually to eliminate the possibility of accidental entrap-'v "ice - "Figural is an enlarged, fragmentary perspective view of a portion of the cabinet, showing in detail one of the stop elements held in retracted, inoperative position by a cabinet shelf;

Figure '3 is a perspective view of a modified form of the invention;

Figure 4 illustrates still another modification of the invention; and, I

t Figure 5 is :a view of the apparatus shown in Figure 4 in its extended operative position preventing closure of the door.

' Movement of the arm to its extended position is effected paratus of the aforesaid type, which is characterized by the fact that it is virtually impossible for a person within the cabinet to disable the stop means concurrently with movement of the door toward closedposition.

To the foregoing general ends the invention contemplates provision of stop means normally occupying .a retracted position within the cabinet, but automatically operable, in response to removal of one or more of the cabinet shelves, to project from the cabinet into the path of movement of the door and thus positively to prevent movement of the door to latched position.

In the drawings illustrating several embodiments of the invention:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a front opening refrigerator cabinet embodying the principles of the invention, and showing the door stop means in operative position projecting from the cabinet a sufiicient distance to prevent the door from completely closing against the door jamb;

With detailed reference to the drawings and more part-ic'ularly'to Figure 1 thereof, the numeral -10 designates a refrigerator cabinet having anopen front storage space ll norinallyclo'sed by a door '12, shown in open position,

With further reference to Figure 1 it is seen that the. food storage-compartment is conveniently divided into a numbe'r of individual spaces, as by partitions such as shelves 13, shown in broken lines. The front ends of. the shelvesare supported in 'detents 14 provided in ver tical "trim strips 15 disposed on each side of the food storage compartment. This shelf construction 'is fully described and claimed in Amore Patent No. 2,549,879, issued April 24, 1951. At the rear, the shelves are sup- 1 ported in any suitable and conventional manner.

Normally, when the shelves are inplace, compartment 11 is *divided into small areas of insutficient capacity to permit a-child to climb into the cabinet. Therefore, with the shelves in place, there is little danger of a child being trapped within the refrigerator. When theshelves are removed, however, suflicient space is available for a child to climb in the cabinet, close the door and be, suffocated, if the door is not opened after a relatively short period of time. I

As above indicated, and in particular accordance with this inventionyif the shelves are removed from thev cabinet-stopm'eans automatically moves into the path 'of door movement and prevents the door becoming latched again-st'the cabinet.

With reference to Figures 1 and 2, one exemplary means by which this may be accomplished is shown as comprising an arm 17 pivotally mounted upon a stud 18 for movement between retracted and extended ipositions. Stud 18 is carried by a bracket 19 secured to the forward edge of the cabinet liner as by a screw 20.

li'nes 25,-above and below its full-line position. Removal of the shelffrom the cabinet permitsspring,

21f'to urge the arm into its operative position, shown in'brokenline's at 26, in which position thearm projejcts f out -of the cabinet to an extent sufi'icient to prevent-the" refrigerator door from completely closing and latching against the cabinet. The usual latch means is provided and comprises a latch bolt 23 on the door and a keeper 29 secured to the cabinet.

Means to stop the arm in its extended position is provided by flange 27 turned outwardly from bracket 19. If desired a rubber bumper 30 may be provided on flange 23 of arm 17 to prevent damage to either the arm or the door.

Again with reference to Figure 1 it may be seen that two of these stop members-shown diagrammatically in this viewmay be provided along the front edge of one side wall of the food storage compartment. As seen in this view, the shelves have been removed from the '1 cabinet andthe arms therefore are in their extended positions. Under these conditions the use of two hands is required to move the arms to their retracted positions. It is evident that a person cannot easilyimove these elements to inoperative position and at the same time close the door. Even if the door is closed by another person, synchronization of the door-closing and arm: retracting movements presents problems, and the apparatus of the present invention therefore provides; a measure of safety not available heretofore.

Various modifications of the apparatus come within the broad concept of the invention, and Figures 3, 4 and 5 illustrate two modified embodiments.

With reference to Figure 3 there is provided a'pair of C-shaped loops 31 and 32 pivotally mountedalong the front edge of the inner liner 33, upon brackets 34 and 35, for movements between a retracted inoperative condition, as shown in the full-line position of loop 31, and an extended operative position, as shown in the broken-line position of this same loop. Any number of theseloops mounted one above the other, may be provided, but for the purpose of this description, only two have been shown. By using at least two loops both hands of a child, trying to conceal himself within the refrigerator cabinet, would be occupied in attempting to move them to their inoperative positions, thus preventing him from closing the door.

It will be seen, with reference to the loop 31, that the loops preferably are of sufficient width to span at least three shelf support positions 14, thus when the shelf is in any of these positions the bottom 36 of the loop will contact the side rail of the shelf and thus be held in retracted position. When the shelf is removed the loop is urged automatically to its extended position by spring.

means housed in the bracket 35. The spring means may be of any conventional design, for instance as indicated at 35A and therefore more detailed illustration thereof is unnecessary.

Bracket 34 is a simple stamping and includes top andv bottom flanges 37, in which the free ends of the loops are pivoted. Each flange also includes an outwardly turned projection or keeper 38. When either, loop swings to its extended position, one leg of the loop springs behind the projection, thus offering further resistance to retraction of these loops.

-T he" modification somewhat diagrammatically illustrated in Figures 4 and 5 contemplates the use of a toggle actuated mechanism 40 concealed in the space between the inner liner and outer shell 41 and 42, respectively, of the cabinet. position, as illustrated in Figure 4, door stop member or bumper 43 is held in a retracted position extending through an aperture 44 in breaker-strip 45, but with its outer end substantially flush with the outer surface of the breaker-strip.

v Connected at one of its ends to the knuckle of the toggle, there is provided an arm 46 extending through an aperture in the inner liner 41 of the cabinet. The outer end of this arm which extends within the cabinet, is provided with a cross-bar 47 engaging the side edge of shelf 13 (see Figure 4) and thus holding the toggle in its retracted position against the pressure of a coil With the toggle in its foldedsp ring, indicated at 48.

The inner end of the toggle is anchored on a bracket 49 fixed to outer wall 42 of the cabinet.

When shelf 13 is removed from the cabinet spring 48 straightens the toggle, thus moving the end of arm 43 out beyond the breaker-strip to an extent preventing the door from becoming latched against the cabinet. The straight-line condition of the toggle locks it in this extended position and so prevents the door from moving the toggle to its folded position upon impact of the door with the end of the arm.

Cross-bar 47 may be of sufiicient length to span a plurality of shelf positions 14 so that the toggle may T be held in a retracted position while the shelf is in either of several desired positions. As in the case of the previously described forms of this invention, a plurality of these mechanisms may be employed.

From the above description it is now evident that the apparatus of this invention affords a large measure of procedures in cabinet construction.

Further, it may readily be used as an accessory to be fitted upon refrigerators after manufacture thereof.

' I claim:

1. A domestic appliance cabinet comprising a case which defines a compartment; a plurality of partitions removably disposed within said compartment, spaced from one another; a door mounted on said case and providing access to said compartment; a plurality of door stop members; a plurality of mounting means on said case for movably attaching .said door stop members to said case at locations spaced from one another, each door stop member being movable, when attached, between a position extended into the path of the door when closing and a position retracted from said path, each mounting means including an element rigidly attached to said case in alignment, when the respective door stop member is in said extended position, with the line of force. arising during impact of the closing door against the door stop member, to prevent closing of the door, and each door stop member being normally engaged by at least one of said partitions and thereby maintained in the retracted position; and a plurality of biasing means, one for each of said door stop members, for forcibly moving such member to said extended position when the partitions are removed from the compartment.

2. An appliance as described in claim 1, additionally characterized in that each of said door stop members comprises lever means pivotally mounted on a wall of said case and swingable in directions parallel to said wall.

3. Anfappliance as described in claim 1, additionally characterized in that each of said door step members comprises lever means pivotally mounted on a wall of said case and swingable in directions normal to said wall.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

